Was read to me 14th January '19

This is the first Claude book that we've read and it will not be the last! It was absolutely hilarious! Claude the dog and his good friend Sir Bobblysock are keen adventurers. While their owners are out at work, they get up to all sorts. In this story, Claude decides to paint but gets a bit mucky. He then forgets that the bath is running and ends up flooding the bathroom - much to the shock of the class - and whooshing out of the house in the bathtub! But their adventure has only just begun...The illustrations are very cheerful and easy for the little ones to engage with. The names of the characters are comical (Captain Poopdeck!) and the language used throughout the story makes it a happy, fun read! We highly recommend this story :)

Was read to me 11th December '18

Suzy Goose and her friends have a wonderful Christmas tree, but it's missing a star on top! When Suzy sees the most twinkly star in the sky, she decides that this has to be the one for the tree. But how will she get it? (The Nursery children immediately commented that "she can't reach it, it's too high!") Suzy tries to launch herself from a hill, a fence, a pile of logs... anything to jump high enough and 'whoosh' to the sky! Sadly after every attempt, she lands 'splat' in the snow. Suzy's search for a 'launch pad' leads her further and further away from her friends and unfortunately, no closer to the star. Will she find her way back home? How is Suzy going to catch the perfect star? The beautiful illustrations supported the youngest children in the class engage with the story, and help them feel confident in offering responses when identifying animals/parts of the story. It definitely helped us to feel festive!

Was read to me 10th December '18

We love a magical story! This tale about the spellbinding Granny and her granddaughter sees the pair head to the shops when Granny has run out of food. Initially, Granny is warned by the little girl not to do magic while they're there, but it doesn't take long for all sorts of havoc to occur! As they walk into the store, popcorn starts popping, biscuits start dancing and runner beans start racing... The little girl pleads with her Granny to stop creating magic but then she spots a pair of robbers trying to steal some food. What can she do? Can Granny work her magic? The children in the class predicted that Granny would 'save them', but wasn't sure how... see if you can guess! (The inside cover provides a QR code to listen to a free audio copy of the story - little one'S can read along to their hearts content!)

Was read to me 4th December '18

In this Isadora tale, we find that Isadora has not been invited to a friend's ice skating birthday party. To make her feel better, Isadora's aunt, (a winter fairy - unlike Isadora's mother who is a summer fairy), turns her back garden into a wintery wonderland, complete with ice rink! Isadora and pink rabbit have a wonderful time skating and creating a snow friends... but they don't realise that using enchanted snow to build these friends would lead to them coming to life! We then get to meet Snow Boy and Snow Bunny. They love skating and playing snowballs, but are especially fascinated by Isadora's room, all of her stories and dressing up. But Isadora notices that Snow Boy can't stay inside for much longer when she spots him dripping onto her floor! What can she do to save him from melting?One of the children suggested that Isadora stand Snow Boy "next to the freezer" to solve the problem... Another thought that "they should go to the North Pole." They all enjoyed the ending and have been creating icy costumes ever since!

I read this book 4th December '18

'Hey, who's in the loo?' is filled with comical illustrations that follow the goings-on outside of a toilet door one day. A bear waits patiently outside of a locked toilet door, and finds that the longer he waits, the more animals end up in the queue, bursting to use the loo just like him. It's great for talking about 'pushing' into lines - the children commented "We don't do that, do we?!" - when a pig, monkey and elephant try to squeeze in ahead of the bear even though he'd been waiting the longest.One girl in the class couldn't stop giggling at the story, and when we'd finished reading it, she explained that she liked the giraffe discussing "needing a poo!" (The child is 3 and wasn't the only one to favour this part of the story). Some of the children kept asking "so who is it?" wanting to find out who is in the toilet sooner and why they're taking so long. (I will let you find out for yourselves but it is quite simple in the end. As an adult working with children, you imagine all sorts of bizarre possibilities for this!) The story follows a simple rhyming pattern and easy-to-pick-up repetitive phrases. It's certainly a book that the children enjoyed, perhaps because we haven't read one before that mentions wee, poo or loo.